The Show
Free from the limitations of studios and the control of money, independent Internet cartoons like "Homestar Runner" and its buddies deliver some of the best entertainment available. They are certainly better than mediocre pablum like "Garfield." But there's a downside to the freedom available to these series and that's complete freedom to be offensive or obscene without any payoff.

The "South Park" guys took that freedom and created something incredibly funny and insightful. Joecartoon went the other direction and created a series of cartoons that rely on violence and stupidity to...do something. I would say to make people laugh, but, despite my relatively low opinion of humanity, I don't think that these cartoons will do that for most people. At least, I hope not.

The cartoons here are broken up into three categories, "Joe's Shows," "Press & 'Splode" and "thuh Greenfields," which are taken from the cartoons posted on joecartoon's Web site between 1999 and 2004. Due to the range in age, the sophistication of the animation is pretty low, and never touches the quality of the work being done by The Brothers Chapman. The cartoons are drawn in a simplistic style reminiscent of Gahan Wilson and Vaughn Bode's art, but with none of the inherent beauty, perhaps in part due to the excessive blood splatter and repetition.

"Joe's Shows" is made up of 12 varied episodes, without any theme or story tying them together, with the exception of the two "Stoneflies" episodes and the two Christmas episodes. I can't say I enjoyed any of these episodes. In fact, "Donky Bong Short," "Goanna Humpah," and "The Xmas Gift" were simply awful, substituting gore for comedy.

Episodes:

• Stoneflies I
• Stoneflies II
• Santafly
• Donky Bong Short
• Goanna Humpah
• A Boy and his Dog
• Gerbill
• Joemomma
• Lament for Toad
• Nevada Joe
• The Xmas Gift
• Gerbil Genocide

The "Press & 'Splode" section features nine interactive episodes, which suffer from a focus on being interactive, and a lack of focus on being entertaining. Click on an option and something will happen, but it's probably not going to be very funny, as seen in the annoying "Gerbil in a Microwave," the ridiculous "Lump: The No-Legged Dog," and the infamous "Frog in a Blender." Just trying to get through all the repetitive options in a cartoon like "Gerbil Bar" will make you want to throw the disc through a window.

Episodes:

• Gerbil in a Microwave
• Gerbil Mantras
• Joefish
• Gerbil Bar
• Live and Let Dive II
• Lump: The No-Legged Dog
• Teenage Gerbil Bikers from Hell
• Where My Dog
• Frog in a Blender

The final section might be the worst of the bunch. "thuh Greenfields" follows the "adventures" of a pair of pot farmers. I put adventures in quotes, because they don't do much of anything. But if your idea of a good time is watching a an older midwestern couple spank each other, sell videos of it and take bullets to the head, then this is your cup of tea. The concept that they are drug-producing performance artists, as presented in the theme song, never plays itself out to any satisfaction, and instead takes a backseat to a very uncomplicated, uninteresting direct address technique that's less enthralling with each appearance.

Episodes:

• Greenfields Theme Song
• Whore
• Spankin'
• Apology
• She's Pissed
• Metal Plate

I can't say exactly how long the content on this disc is, as some of it relies on your input, but it's probably an hour's worth of entertainment in all. Considering you can get pretty much all this content online for free, all you get from this is no load time and a nice big picture on your screen for maybe an hour. It's hardly the best value in the business.

This is the only DVD to ever make me, like Ralph Wiggums, angry and sad at the same time.

The DVD
The best part of this DVD is available without ever having to put it into your DVD player. Wrapped around the white keepcase that holds "Greatest Hits #1" is a slipcover with a nifty liquid-filled pouch that recreates "Frog in a Blender" (think the Uncut Saw DVD case or old girls' Trapper Keepers.) It's a nice touch, and the most clever thing involved with this release.

The DVD itself has an animated, full-frame main menu, with options to choose between the three episode types, and the "Bogus Features." There are no audio options and no subtitles or close captioning.

The Quality
The episodes are crystal clear, without a speck of problems, with the exception of some pixilation in thin black lines, especially during pauses. As usual, the transfer from flash to DVD is a smooth one, and the color and detail are spotless reproduced. It's unclear why the image is set inside a black frame on all four sides of the screen, but it does result in a reduced-size image.

The audio, presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, is surprisingly robust, though it's hardly consistent, resulting in many quick remote-control pick-ups. Everything is clean and clear, without any distortion at all, and some of the sounds are more powerful than you might expect.

The Extras
Listed as the "Bogus Features," the extras are even worse than the main material. First up are four "Video Clips," which are exactly that: video clips from what look like home movies of demolition derbies, a child dancing, and a blowgun fight. At least now I understand who the cartoons' target audience is.

Eight episodes of "Yo-Yo-Yo" follow, which are short, pointless bits of animation, followed by a fly, who says "Dude, that's f***ed up." At this point, I actually said, out loud, "I want to cry." These are such torture, that I am considering offering the screener to the Army to use at Guantanamo Bay. They are only slightly better than the three episodes of "Vintage Joe," which just means older crap, featuring a guy who bursts into flame for no reason. If you like your jokes repeated, this is the cartoon for you.

The Bottom Line
Maybe these cartoons haven't aged well. Maybe I am not the target audience. Maybe this is the worst DVD I've ever reviewed. Maybe Joecartoon is just a godawful force of evil, unleashed upon humanity as punishment for our sins against God. Whatever the case, this DVD has made me question just why it is I do these reviews, and how it is that BCI had the good sense to put out "He-Man" DVDs, and turned around and released this. I'm reminded very much of Billy Madison, and I will paraphrase the famous quote:

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.